Caldwell Partners Recruits Doerr Center Director at Rice University

May 21, 2015 – Caldwell Partners has recruited Tom Kolditz as executive director of Doerr Center for Student Leadership at Rice University in Houston, Texas. The search was conducted by a team led by John Strackhouse, a partner who advises investors and executives at venture capital firms, private equity concerns, and growth-oriented public companies on succession planning, talent acquisition, leadership, and company building. Mr. Kolditz is a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army. He is a professor in the practice of leadership & management; he directed the Leadership Development Program at the Yale School of Management.

He has more than 25 years of experience in leadership roles, including 12 years leading the Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and two years as a leadership and human resources policy analyst in the Pentagon.

The Doerr Center for Student Leadership is a new institute made possible by a $50 million gift from tech venture capitalist John Doerr and his wife, Ann. It will assess the strengths of incoming freshman and develop them through a combination of classroom instruction, personal coaches and real-world experience.

“This groundbreaking institution will produce leaders who have the skills, training and confidence to make a true difference in the world – we see it as the Google of undergraduate leadership training,” said Mr. Strackhouse. “It was an exhaustive international search, and we are honored to have been entrusted by Rice University and leading venture capitalist John Doerr and his wife Ann, with a search that will have such an impact on leadership in the future.”

Caldwell Partners, founded in 1970, provides human capital services to its clients through offices and partners in Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Calgary, Chicago, Atlanta, Toronto, Stamford, New York City, and London.